How long this lasted I did not know.  I was hardly conscious that I was conscious.

I heard a word now and then:  “Look out there!” “Hold on!” “Wait a second!”

A moment before, I had walked out of the hotel among the pines ... these are not pines; they are oaks.  A moment before, the night sky had been overcast with rain-clouds ... now the sky is blue over my head, and the sun is hot.  My head whirs with pain and fear—­fear of insanity.  I have been hurt; I have been unconscious ...  I cannot recollect what hurt me....

But no; there was no mental danger, for my senses were returning.  I could feel that I was being borne, in a way unknown to me, by some unknown men.  I could not see the men, but I could hear them step,—­sometimes very clumsily, causing me renewed pain,—­and I could hear them speak, and breathe heavily.

Now I thought I could see tents, and great fear came on me.

We passed between objects like tents, and went on; we were in a field, or some open space; I could see no trees.  Then I heard, or thought I heard, a voice cry out strange syllables, “Hep!  Hep!  Hep!”—­and again, “Hep!  Hep!  Hep!”

Well, well ... this is a dream; I’ll soon wake up; but it is vivid while it lasts.

Yet the strange dream continued.  How long had I been dreaming?  I dreamed that the men came to a stop.  They lowered me to the ground.

I looked at them.  They were looking at me.  Their faces were strange.  They were dirty.  They were clothed alike.  I closed my eyes.  I tried to think.

“There he goes again,” said a voice.

I felt a hand on my wrist.  I opened my eyes.  I saw a face bending over me.  The face rose.  It was a good face.  This man’s head was bare.  He had spectacles.  He was not dirty.

“Bring him in,” said the man with the good face.

I was lifted again.  I was taken into a tent ... certainly a tent.  There were low beds in the tent—­pallets on the ground.  There were forms on the beds.

The men laid me on a bed.  They straightened my limbs.  Then one of them raised me from behind, and another took off my coat, or I supposed so, though I did not clearly see.  Then they went away.

I was thirsty.  I tried to speak, but could not speak.  The man with the spectacles came to me.  He said:  “I am going to dress your head.  You are not hurt badly.”

My head was paining me, then, because I had been hurt?  Yes, that must be true.  If this was a dream, this part of it was not unreasonable.  The man went away.

But did I ever have such a nightmare before?  I had supposed that people awoke before they were hurt.

The man came again.  He brought a bowl of water and a spoon.  He raised my head, and put a spoonful of water to my lips.  I tried to open my mouth, but could not.

He called, “William!” A negro man came.  The negro took my head in his hands.  The man with the spectacles opened my mouth, and put water into it.  I swallowed.  Then he put the bowl to my lips and I drank.  Both went away.